Persona Vampire
by phantomgamer
Summary: Arisato Minato was about to save the world, at the expense of his own life. but igor needs a favor first. how will he deal with a little time travel?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Life to live and a Vampire

'I finally did it; it's time to end this. I may not be able to destroy humanity's self destructive tendencies but at least I can seal NYX away… even if it costs me my life.' I concentrate on my social links as I prepare to use the final skill I learned from Igor. Their voices support me as I cry "GREAT SEAL!" the world goes white, I close my eyes...

When I open my eyes I see the velvet room. "Igor? Did I do it? Did I save everyone?" I ask tiredly. He smiles. "Yes, you did, however you have not spent your soul yet. I took you from the moment before you sealed NYX because I want to ask you a favor." I stare dumbstruck. "You stopped me from saving the world to ask me a favor. Better be good." I say silently fuming.

He smiles. "I want you to go to a school for monsters in the near future, live there fulfill your life to its maximum and when you are old and dying, I want you to return here and seal NYX." He said with a smirk.

"Wait, you want me to what?" I say surprised. "Like I said, I want you to live your life. I want you to go to a school for monsters and fulfill everything in your life to the fullest." He said.

"You are letting me live my life. And you're having me do you a favor that has something to do with this school for monsters." I said still shocked that he was giving me a life to live. Of course I will be starting from scratch, and in a place populated by monsters too. Probably keeping my persona powers as well, I don't think he would just send me in without a chance.

"Exactly. All you need to do is trust your heart and you can figure out your mission by yourself. You will have access to your persona but you will be starting from scratch, just Orpheus to start with."

I nodded, can't make it too easy can we? "What kinds of shadows are causing the problem?" I ask.

"None. This is a mission with no shadows, but fair warning. Monsters are quite tough. Aside from that I have no more advice for you." I nodded, after all, I was going to live as long as I want till I am close to death or don't want to live anymore, then I save everyone at home. Sure I was delaying the inevitable but that's alright with me.

"Where is this monster school?" I ask. "Don't worry; I have a friend who will be picking you up shortly. He will answer any questions about the school for you."

"Thank you Igor." I say with a smile, I feel tears of happiness coming forth but I hold them back.

He simply replies, "Don't worry about it, I'd never let a visitor perish at such a young age, besides, Elizabeth told me that if I didn't, she would eternally wander the cosmos to find a way to free you." I sweat drop, thank goodness I went on those dates with her.

"So when will-" Knock Knock. "Never mind" "come in." Igor says as the door to the left opens and a man wearing a blue (if I never see the color again it would be too soon) uniform walks in.

"bus for Arisato Minato." He says, creepy grin growing. He tossed a small bad to me,"Here's the school uniform, don't worry you can customize it." I nod to him and grab the uniform. I go into the side room to change. I put on the white undershirt untucked (except for the place my evoker sits),leave the tie off, green coat unbuttoned, beige pants with a secondary belt hanging off the side for my sword, black shoes, and most importantly, my MP3 player.

As I stepped out into the main room I placed my hands in my pockets and to my surprise I noticed I couldn't feel the bottoms. Igor saw my confusion "they're spatially enhanced pockets. That way you can hide your swords and evoker." I nod, that's useful. I grab the evoker off the chair and holster it. Then I place the two swords I brought with me for the final fight in my bigger on the inside pockets.

"Alright then, I'm ready to go." I say as I walk to the door. "Hold on. From now on, if you use the velvet key on any door you can use said door to go here or anywhere you have previously used it. I'm sure it will be useful." I smirk and nod, it feels like he's spoiling me, but I'm sure I will still have trouble, after all, if they find out I'm a human, chances are that I won't be welcomed with open arms.

As we leave the velvet room I see that we are in the back of a bus. I don't question it, I've gotten too used to this sort of thing to be bothered. The person in blue, presumably the driver, goes to the driver's seat and starts it up. I sit near the front and begin asking questions. The information I acquire astounds me. First, this school is called Youkai academy, alright, not the most creative name but that's fine. Second, I was right, if I'm found to be a human I will probably be executed, so I may need friends to help me cover. Personae can only go so far I suppose. Third, the school is in a separate dimension connectible only through this tunnel of the fourth dimension. Then I asked about all the Youkai I should be prepared to see, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. As I continue to ask questions a familiar feeling rings throughout my body.

"Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou choosest to create a Persona Of the Hermit Arcana". That's interesting, new social links, but that's to be expected I guess.

We finally reach the end of the road. "Thanks for the ride …" I look at him asking for his name. "Just call me driver-San" he says with a mysterious smile. I nod and get off the bus. The place is quite unique. Looks like something from that horror movie I watched with Yukari and Junpei over the last break.

As I walk through the forest in the direction of the school I begin hearing noises in the woods behind me. I should be- "LOOK OUT!" crash! "Careful…" I say as I pick myself up.

I feel something soft as I support my self with my left hand and hear a very feminine moan. I look up already knowing what to expect, but still I am blown away. She's gorgeous. Pink hair(slightly odd, but who am I to judge, I'm bluenette), green eyes, porcelain skin, unearthly beauty. I stand up and hold out my hand. "Sorry about that. I should have moved quicker."

She takes my hand and starts to get up. "No it's my fault; I was dizzy from my anemia." Suddenly she starts sniffing the air, immediately I start thinking, smell, what could she- "I'm/your bleeding." So she's a vampire.

She falls into my arms and says, "When I smell blood I just can't control myself, it's because-" I lean my neck to the right, she's only a teen, my age probably, it must be difficult to control the urges, like hormones.

"You're a vampire, I figured it out already." She blushed and nodded as she bit me. After a few seconds she pulled away. "Sorry… I just couldn't control myself. You don't hate us vampires, do you?"

I shrugged, "of course not, and don't worry about it, we all have to eat. Want to join me in walking to school?"

she nods, blushing. "What's your name?" I ask. "Oh sorry. Akashiya Moka, and would you like to be my friend?"

I smile. "Arisato Minato, and I would be thrilled." And we walk to the school with the feeling of a new social link in my heart, "Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou choosest to create a Persona Of the Fortune Arcana"…

After the introduction ceremony, the one back at Gekkoukan was more interesting, I found my home room. As the day started I took out my headphones.

"Hi there class, I'm Ms. Nekonome, I'll be your homeroom teacher this year." Nekomata, nice. "Now as you know, Youkai academy is a school exclusively for monsters. this school was built for helping monster to integrate into human society so we can co-exist!" at this point one of the students to my right asked " wouldn't it be better if we killed the men and molest the sexy women he he he" that is not a good omen

"The school however does not have humans, but hurting a human in other public places of earth is illegal because we must hide our existence from them." continued Ms. Nekonome. Wow, that is some skillful ignoring, way to go. "this brings us too our two most important rules, first" she became somber" humans are to never know we exist, bringing humans in, or if a human comes here the punishment is death ... Or something." She ended happily, wow…" the other is not to tell others what kind of monster you are." That's useful for me.

Suddenly in comes Moka "I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost after the ceremony." "Oh that's alright. Just take a seat." Moka said a quick thanks as the other boys (and even a few girls!) started complimenting her.

"Who is she?"

"That hair… Those eyes…"

"She's so beautiful…"

Oi vei…

Suddenly she sat next to me, then she turned and noticed me. "Minato?" oh boy, bad feelings about this. "Hi Moka." I reply evenly. "Minato!" yep, I knew it.

She threw herself at me and crushed me in a vampire hug. And of course now every male in the room looks ready to disembowel me now… joy.

As break arrived Moka dragged me around, well, I say dragged but I was walking with her. Eventually we stopped at a drink machine. We both got some tomato juice. Everything was nice and peaceful as we made small talk, then, "hey there gorgeous, what are you doing with an emo punk like this kid when you could be with a real man like me?" as he says this he lifts me by the shirt.

I hear the other students say his name, Saizo Kamiya. I reach to my pocket and quickly draw my katana, slashing his wrist. He yells in pain and drops me. "And you call me emo. You're the one with bloody wrists." I say as I grab Moka's hand and start running down the hall.

I put away the katana when we reached the forest. "Wow Minato! That was cool! A little mean, but cool. What kind of monster are you?" I looked around and said, "I'll tell you, but only because I trust you. So don't react until I tell you the full thing, alright?" she nods. "I'm a human."

Her face turns to one of disbelief and horror. "But, I am not a normal one. Neither were some of my closest friends. I am a persona user."

Now she seemed confused. "What's a persona?" I smile "the mask one wears against the world, however, I'm special. Whereas most persona users have but one, I, being one of the wild card, can wield hundreds." She seems impressed. "At least you are technically a monster." She says smiling.

I frown. "Why don't you like humans?" she frowns, "I hate those humans! I… I actually went to human schools before, but I just couldn't make friends there because they thought I was different. They're nothing but a race of cruel and heartless people."

I shake my head. "Trust me, not all people are like that. I've met a lot of people, and while that's true for some, many are just like you or me."

She looks apprehensive. "Look, just think for a while about what I said, I need to use the bathroom." I don't really but I know she needs thinking time.

So as I walk through the forest I begin feeling anxious "Minato!" shit that's Moka's voice! Saizo is after Moka, I take my sword out of my pocket and affix it to the second belt, and then I unlatch my evoker as I ran. As I draw closer to her I mentally prepare Orpheus.

When I get there I see Saizo released his true form, looks like a monstrel. "Oi, Saizo, put her down or you may just lose your hand."

He turns to me and yells, "Emo punk! oh now your going to die! Nobody makes me look like a fool and lives!" great, now I got to distract him while Moka removes her seal, good thing the driver told me how rosary's seal a vampire's power.

I keep dodging until I realize she isn't even trying to undo the seal. "Moka remove the seal and help me!" she looked surprised that I figured it out but said, "I can't, someone else has to!" great, well here's nothing. I pull the evoker and point it at Saizo, he stops, surprised probably, then I slowly inch my way over to Moka before turning it on myself, surprised at what I did Saizo simply gawks. "Alright, Moka, let's take him together." She is stunned at my evoker being pointed to my head so she doesn't react. I pull off the Rosario as I pull the trigger.

BANG!

I can feel the power rising around me as I summon Orpheus and Moka transforms. When Saizo sees what's happening he's stunned to silence. He probably never even heard of what I am, plus Moka releasing. When the air settled down Moka was standing next to me looking a bit different. Taller, more…filled out, silver hair, red eyes, and when she smiled, longer teeth. "Thank you for waking me up, you are very observant Minato. We didn't even tell you about the rosary, I applaud you. And your 'persona' is quite a unique power."

I smile and say, "You're not looking too bad yourself." She blushed, she thought I couldn't see but I did. "Alright, Orpheus, Bash!" Orpheus smashed Saizo over the head with his harp.

Looks like a critical hit. "Your turn." I say. Moka seems impressed that I managed to hurt him so much, as he was on his knees. Well, as impressed as she could seem. "Thanks, I needed time to stretch anyways." She says as she stretches, I suppose she doesn't get out often. She then proceeds to run at the monstrel and unleash a bone crushing flip kick to his jaw. I cringe slightly as he goes flying into the forest.

When Moka turns to look at me she seems to be analyzing my every feature. Finally she says. "you seem too strong to be a human. care to explain why you say you are a human?" I smile and say, "sometimes life shows us a path and we must follow it. All you need to know is, my path took me on a journey that allowed me to grow more powerful than any other human being." As I remember the events that made me who I am, I begin to lose concentration on reality.

"Are you crying?" she asks. I blink, I am crying. "yeah, sorry about that, so, we took care of Saizo, what do you want to do now?" her eyes widened slightly.

"I-I'm still tired, I'll let you talk with omote, she can explain our situation." I smile, "alright Moka, I can tell you aren't used to people caring about your opinion, and don't deny it, I was the same way about a year ago, so I see the signs. So, until next time Ura-Hime." She blushes heavily and I put the rosary back on before she can respond.

As she begins to change back I feel the familiar sensation, "Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou choosest to create a Persona Of the Empress Arcana". one person, two social links… that's new. When Moka finished reverting I caught her and noticed she was asleep. " I hope ura doesn't mind me carrying omote like this." I say as I lift her up and carry her bridal style.

When we reach the infirmary I notice Moka waking up, she goes to stretch and punches me in the face. It hurts. A lot. I'm pretty sure it broke my nose. "Huh?" says Moka when she finally realizes I'm holding her. "oh hi Minato. Oh you're bleeding what happened? Was it Saizo!?"

I sigh and say "you punched me in your sleep." She had the decency to look horrified; I guess that makes sense because I told her I'm a human technically. (I think she uses my persona powers to justify my being at a monster school) "don't worry, you just broke my nose. Nothing major. I'll fix it later."

"but your…bleeding…uh." I smile, she's fine. That's good. I lean my head exposing my neck, my body long since adjusted for severe blood loss. So this was my new sense of normal. At least it can't get any weird- wait, don't even think that. Murphy has my face on his most wanted list; if I so much as think that phrase it could get me killed.

Meanwhile, in an upper plane a minor deity says, "close enough buddy boy, close enough." and drops a pebble in a cup of water. A name is on the side of the cup.

I'll give you two guesses whose it is.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Ryoji and a vampire

ring, ring

ring, ring

ri-

"ugh, I was almost ready to get up too. Oh well its just one less hour." I say as I get out of bed. I miss Yukari's wake up calls, her voice was anything but grating. Much better than a stupid alarm clock. As I head out of my room to the communal showers I notice most of the other students are nearly as tired as me. I say nearly because none of them came to their first day, minutes after fighting a force of nature into partial submission. 'ha, good one' I hear. Wait a second... no one said anything... then who?... 'in here doofus. Its me Ryoji!' stop.

What.

The.

Absolute.

Flying.

FUCK.

'dude don't blow a blood vessel. If you do that and die you create a paradox. And trust me. You don't want a paradox.'

OK, calm down, the avatar of NYX, the embodiment of death, and the idiot who tried to sneak a peak at Mitsuru in Kyoto, is in my head... fuck that, what the fuck are you doing in my head Ryoji!?

'well, it's simple. Five years ago, you sealed mom, NYX, and to everyone else, you lived till that march. Then you died. But you didn't. Mom knows that, that's why now that she is separated from Erebus, she wanted to thank you for protecting the world she loves. After all, it's you who, after you stop living in this time period, separates her from him. So she sent me! After all, this personality is the essence of the me who was your friend. Get it?'

no. not really.

I hear the sound of hand meeting face 'NYX wasn't evil, didn't want to destroy life, was forced to by Erebus, you separated them and let her be her. She sent me, Ryoji here to say thanks for her. Get it now?'

I got it the first time, just making sure you're realy Ryoji

'jee, thanks, see if I wait five years for you again.'

I roll my eyes as I get out of the shower. So what does this mean?

'nothing realy. She just told me to tell you that your future is brighter than anyone could have predicted, and that she will help when she can.'

I stop in the middle of the hallway. Can she get Murphy to leave me alone? I hope.

'no, he's more powerful than mom. She can ask nicely for him to be nicer though.'

I sigh and continue to my room. Works for me.

'good to know, alright, I'll tell her. See you... eventually I suppose.'

bye Ryoji I felt his presence leave my head and opened my door.

I sighed turned around, got dressed, and used the velvet key. "Igor, I need to talk to you."

after an hour of timelessness and mythology/history lessons, I returned to the academy and noticed something under my pillow. I lifted my pillow and saw something unexpected, a persona card. "Dante?" no fucking way. And there was a note next to it. "your welcome. Ryoji" dude I love you so much right now it borders on gayness. As I absorb Dante into my soul, I feel a smile tear across my face. I feel awesome.

And with that I walked to class.

Awesomely.

But as I got closer to class I heard murmurings around. When I heard my name I instantly slipped into a shadowy place and listened.

Alright, 'my god, he's hot.' girl. 'looks like an emo punk.' dude. 'those gray eyes are so beautiful!' another girl.

So far so normal. 'heard he took down Saizo in one hit!' there it is.

I snuck up into the group of guys discussing me. I looked to my left and saw a girl with blue hair and large...you know, looking at me. I mouthed 'watch this' and winked at her, she stopped approaching and watched. I got right behind the shortest one and said, "actually I just knocked him over."

the whole group jumped, one of them stuck their claws into the ceiling. "Moka finished him off, speaking of which, here she comes." at that point I had seen Moka coming closer. So I walked over to her. "hey Moka how-" Chomp.

My she's thirsty. Jeez, a little warning next time. "you could have asked, no?" she blushed. "anyway, come on, meet my new friend." I said motioning to the girl who was still giggling like crazy. She stopped quickly and leveled Moka with a steely gaze. Uh oh. Why does this feel like a reversed social link?

"i know her." said his fellow bluenette. "she's the one who's stealing all the attention of the men."

oh shit, is she a lilim, or- the narcie flower I had with me is heating up. She's a succubus, damn.

"and so I'm going to steal you from her." she finished with a smirk.

Shit gotta play along, maybe I can charm her right back when we're alone. Well at least enough to make her less dangerous.

Wait, harem plan. I have to fix this. Oh Moka's talking to me. Shit, um insult her lightly!

"you only like me as a juice box, why should I care." I winked at the rosary, I saw the eye glowing. Oh shit, I hope she's just a good actress or- CrAsH! Fuck. Reversed social link.

"Come on Minato, lets get to class." diversion!

Um, uh, OH! "i feel dizzy babe." never saying babe again. Reminds me too much of Yakashima. Yuck.

"oh you poor baby, that blood sucker must have drank you dry. Let Kurumu take care of you." she whispered in my ear.

Damn, I felt that even with the narcie flower. I need to make her my friend for real, quick.

As we reached the nurses office, Kurumu asked my blood type. "don't need any. Just needed to talk to you alone."

she blushed and said, "OK, but be gentle."

I face palmed. "walked right into that one. I mean realy talk."

she fumbled slightly, but I didn't miss the relief that went through her eyes. "don't you want to sit here and let me nurse you back to health?" she said squeezing her breasts together with her arms.

"you can stop trying to charm me. It never worked."

her jaw dropped, and she started tearing up. "is she so perfect that you just cant be affected by me?" I was about to ask who she was talking about when the answer made itself known through a righted social link.

It distracted me enough that she took my silence as a yes, and got pissed. "fine, then I'll kill you and then her!" fuck.

Out popped her tail and wings. And suddenly, Moka burst through the door and tackled her. "nooooo" she cried, as her momentum took them through the window. I cursed and jumped after them drawing my sword and evoker.

As I landed on the ground I saw Moka dodging Kurumu's claws a ran forward as Moka slipped and pushed her out of the way while simultaneously blocking Kurumu's claws.

"WHAT! I should have cut through that cheap piece of metal like butter!"

I say "two things. We shouldn't be fighting, I want to talk, that's it. The reason you can't charm me is because I have this" I pull out the narcie flower.

She gasps and falls back. "that flower... how could you..." I go and help Moka up.

Somehow or another the rosary manages to fall off in the process. Ura charges her and I block her leg with the flat of my blade.

"why do you defend her, I thought you couldn't be charmed. And why is that sword not dust." asks Ura as she removes her heel from my sword.

"like I said. We don't need to fight. She has her reasons for what she is doing. I want to know what they are before I fight her over it."

Moka looks at me with no emotion for a moment before smirking. "fine, I'll watch."

I'm relived. That was one hell of a kick, had I not been used to heavy hitters like the shadows, my arms may have shattered.

"good. Now if you both will follow me, we are attracting a crowd." the two of them looked around and saw that I was right.

"lets go to my dorm." I say simply to stun the crowd so we could get away. They blush (Moka tries to hide it by aiming a kick at my head, I block it again.) and follow.

Upon reaching my room the girls have calmed down.

"alright, Kurumu. I hear that the succubi population has dwindled over the last century. Is this why you wanted to turn the school into a harem?" she nods.

"sort of, you see, while a succubus may have sex with anyone she wishes in order to gain our base energy, we can only have children with our destined one. It's a magical contract formed by a succubus with a certain male depending on her emotions. However, if the emotions are not returned truly, a child cannot be born. And because of the lack of men in our home dimension, most killed in the last great war between the Youkai, we had to start interacting with the men of earth. However, because they don't truly understand us, they are much less likely to be successful in child bearing."

me and Moka share a glance, "so, because of all the monster hunts and unwilling men, your species has dwindled down to..."

"two thousand and fifty four."

Moka gasps. My eyes widen."you're an endangered species." she nods, tearing up.

I stare at the wall for a while before I stand up, "I won't stand for it," the girls look up at me.

"i won't let you're species go extinct. I will personally help you find your destined one." suddenly I feel it.

"Thou Art I... And I am thou... Thou Shalt have our Blessing When thou choosest to create a Persona Of the Lovers Arcana" don't tell me she...

"I think I just found him." of course...

"Hold on." I say, "weather I am or aren't your destined one, we barely know each other. Why not hold off that decision off until we know each other better."

she suddenly got a disturbingly innocent face on. "but Minato-Kun. I'm already on your bed." she was...

I was on my desk chair, and Moka was on my footrest from the couch.

"all we need to do is lie here. Moka can join if she wants." Moka went red and took a swing at her.

She dodged and ended up sprawled across the bed. "ooh what have we here? Asked Kurumu as she reached under the pillow and took out... no way.

"what are these, playing cards?" they are.

I reach out to grab them but she pulls them away. "or are they some sort of naughty cards?" she smirks.

Moka stopped interfering now, she was curious. "if you must know, they're a part of my power."

Kurumu looked confused. "huh? I don't know any monster that uses cards."

Moka sharply inhaled ready to make something up, but I cut her off. "that's because I'm human."

Kurumu's eyes widened like saucers.

She dropped the cards and I picked them, and the note, up.

"but what are you doing here then?" she asked.

I smiled sadly. "it's a long story. But the important thing is that I am special, there are only a few people in the world with my power, and even out of them I'm special."

I took out my evoker and switched back to Orpheus

"i am a persona user, and I can use the masks I wear against the world as my strength."

I pull my evoker to my head and Kurumu panics. I cry out his name as I pull the trigger, and Orpheus appears beside me.

After Orpheus vanished I said, "and those cards are physical manifestations of the fragments of my psyche."

Kurumu and Moka stared at me. Though Moka got the explanation already it seems the more in depth explanation was not quite as she expected. "how did you get this power? Is it why you could hold back against our hits? And seriously! Whats with the sword? It should be dust by now!" asked Kurumu as she started flailing about.

Moka seemed to be curious as well. Well I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell them. They seem loyal enough. But still, we haven't realy fought side by side yet, so it's not the level of trust I had with SEES... OK now I know I'm crying.

"oh crap! I'm sorry! What did I say? Don't cry!" Kurumu freaked out. Moka even seemed concerned.

"the path life takes you?" she said sympathetically.

I laughed lightly. "yeah...but I'll tell you one thing. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Kurumu seemed lost. I straitened up a bit. "so, I hear vampires and succubi are capable of viewing a person's memories via hypnosis and charm. Is that true?" they shared surprised glances, And nodded.

"then I'll put my narcie flower away and you two can follow me into my memories. But I have to ask you. Will you keep this secret? And will you be OK? My memories aren't for the faint of heart." they looked to each other and kept eye contact for a short while.

They looked back and braced themselves as they nodded.

I smiled and said. "let's do this." they maintained eye contact with me and I felt my consciousness drifting away.

In moments we were in what appeared to be the dorm during the dark hour.

"where are we?" came Omote's voice.

"how are you here too?" the three of us asked.

"I just hitched a ride through Ura-chan's mental link." she said innocently.

I shook my head. Split personalities, weird.

"this is the place I called home for the most difficult year of my life. During a time that didn't exist." I said fondly as I made my way to the dining room. "i realy didn't know what to expect of my mind scape. But, thinking about it. It couldn't be anything else."

they seemed to be about to ask the obvious questions when the sound of footsteps distracted us. They were coming from the stairs. I drew my weapon and reflexively reached for my evoker. But what I saw made me drop them both. SEES...

"Minato?" asked Aigis.

I ran to her and tackled her in a hug. "Aigis..." I sobbed into her metal neck. "i thought I wouldn't see you for years. Until it was over..."

she patted my back, but her words shocked me. "you still aren't, I'm just a mental guardian. I'm your image of Aigis given the job of protecting your memories of love. Though I do have a slight link to her."

my heart felt shattered.

Then Kurumu seemed to wake up from her daze. "who the hell are you guys?"

I stand up, still hurting, and say. "Kurumu, Moka's, these are my best friends. My fellow warriors, and the closest thing I have to a family. Or, their image ingrained in my memory at least." I smile sadly.

And they see how it hurts me, to see my closest friends without them realy being here.

"whoa, Minato how did you get in your own head!?" said a voice I hadn't heard for a few hours.

"oh, Ryoji your back. I realy have to thank you for that Dante card, that is one of the coolest persona's I've ever had." I say walking up to him and hugging him.

"OK but that doesn't answer my question."

I laugh "I let them drag me into my head so I could show them my journey. Can you still become pharos?"

he looks at me and says, "so you figured it out?"

I nod. "you aren't just a personality, you're linked to me as my memory of you. My guardian of my memories of life after the accident but before SEES." I state as I look for the obvious guardian of my childhood.

I see myself as a child sitting in a corner. I motion him over. "girls, this is me as a child."

omote and Kurumu coo at him as ura just smirks. "he will help me show you my childhood." he nodded and smiled as he ran to the backdoor and put a key in the lock. As he opened the door a bright light filled the lobby.

When it died down we were in my parent's house... my old house. We saw me as a child being pampered and loved. All the (Americanized)Christmases and birthdays, all the family outings, every good day and bad day, well most of them. Most of my happiest memories were from then. But the whole sequence ended at midnight, on the bridge.

And we were back in the dorm. "you just saw the first seven years of my life. And the last thing you saw was the night my parents died."

the girls gasped, ura lightly in comparison to omote and Kurumu.

"that night, the nature of the world was changed. And a monster was born. That monster was trapped in my body for the next ten years of my life and remained dormant." I motioned for Ryoji to come over. As he did, he morphed into pharos. "meet the guardian of my memories of the next nine years of my life. Pharos, the monster within me."

the girls stared at him confused. "you'll understand, but not till my memories are over." he said in his mysterious voice. He walked to the back office room, and put a key in the lock, and opened the door.

Now a black light came out and embraced us. When it cleared, we were in the hospital.

"seeing as I was an orphan, I was put in the child care services. And I ended up with a couple who had a habit of traveling. Over the next five years I had been across the world, finding little things out as I grew up, and becoming culturally rich. But when we were abroad, my adoptive dad found out he had cancer."

the girls looked confused. So I explained cancer to them. "that's horrible!" exclaimed omote.

I nodded sadly. "they decided that they were going to do one last big trip across the world before he died. They left me here in japan with a paid guardian that's the last I ever saw of them."

"The plane they took out of japan crashed. I was left alone in an academy till mid-high school. I transferred to Gekkoukan second year. That was when I first maintained my memory of the dark hour. And a few days later, I gained the power of persona." through my talking the world around us showed these events up till me putting the evoker to my head. Then we returned to the dorm.

Kurumu was enthralled and the Moka's were enraptured in the last scene I showed them.

"well, what happened next?" asked Ura.

"SEES, front and center." I say, accidentally slipping back into my leader mode. "i believe you all have the keys to my memories of sees, along with your keys to my more specific memories?"

Mitsuru walked forward. "no, we left it with Shinjiro."

my eyes bug out and my eyes water. "h-he's here too?" I squeak.

Akihiko nodded and said, "yeah, Shinji's upstairs in his room. He knows how you deal with what he represents here."

I stare at him and I feel my eyes water more. "loss... is... is Akinari there too?" I ask. He nods. I feel my heart clench. The two people I felt the most responsible for. For not using Dia, or anything on Shinji, all because of my stupid fucking shock. And Akinari, because I couldn't do anything at all to help him. The silent Dia's that did nothing, were a constant reminder of my powerlessness.

"girls, can you stay here for a while? I... I need to do this alone."

the girls nodded, even though they didn't know about either of the people named. As I walked up the stairs, I heard them no matter how far I got from them. Probably because it was my mind.

"who's this Shinjiro guy?" asked Kurumu.

Yukari looked at her with sad eyes, "he was the only member of SEES to die." she replied.

The three took in a sharp breath.

"Minato blamed himself, he always did. He doesn't realize it but all of real counterparts were able to see the blame in his eyes. He feels it was his fault for not healing him. But it was no ones fault. Dia can't heal vital organs. It's just not precise enough."

I walked away. I couldn't take it. I KNOW I could have done something... I know it...

"get your head out of your ass Arisato"

that voice...

I looked up the stairs, and there he was. "Shinji... I'm-" he ran up to me and grabbed me by my shirt, then dragged me down the hall to my room.

He ripped open the door and threw me in. "you say sorry, and I punch you. Got it?" I nodded quickly. I know for a fact he is stronger than Moka. Charm leaves no restraint.

"listen when I felt you enter your mind, I came back here using the bit of my soul in your heart. Unbreakable bonds and that. So as the real soul of Shinjiro Aragaki, I am telling you right now. It was not your fault."

I was speechless My social links realy were unbreakable. Soul links. Wow. "now someone else here wants to see you. I'll be waiting with the others." Shinji walked out my old room and let in a young man with long black hair.

Wait is that... "Akinari?"

"hi there Minato. I guess you didn't know my original hair color, huh." he smiled at me. His voice was more full of life than any time I ever saw him before. "i knew you were healing me in little bits every time we met. But I am actually thankful you couldn't help. I'm happier here, able to pay you a visit, but in full health. Don't ever blame yourself. You can't save everyone. But you can try. I have to go now. It takes a lot of energy to complete the soul link. Shinji's lucky, bonds forged through battle are the strongest of all." and he left me.

The two of them... I began bawling like a baby. I was vaguely aware that it had started raining outside. The usual dark hour blood.

After a while I walked back downstairs to the girls. Kurumu and omote nearly tackled me, crying for me. Ura even looked misty eyed.

"I take it you finished showing them my life?" I asked Fuuka.

"yes, we felt the rest might be too much for you to remember right now." she replied. I nodded and looked to ken.

"you said you guys are linked to your real selves. Can you tell Aigis..." the girls could tell that they would never replace Aigis in my heart. I saw it in their eyes. But oddly enough, it was Kurumu who seemed the most OK with it.

"i can give her the feeling that a part of her that died with you has returned, and maybe give her dreams about the academy but that's it. Maybe during summer break you can go to the human world and talk to your friends, alleviate their pain."

I nodded and turned to the girls. "time to leave."

Shinji stopped me. "hold it. Take these." he handed me 22 cards. "your max link personae. Take them. Stay alive long enough to tell Aki that Miki and I say hi." I smile and nod before we leave the sanctum of my mind.

Moka reapplies her rosary and she and Kurumu go back to their dorms. I lay down to go to sleep.

My dreams are happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Witch and a vampire

ring, ring

ring, ring

ri-

"*yawn* what a night." I say as I stumble out of bed and to the showers. I notice the other boys staring at me. Why are they?... OH! that's right, they think I slept with Moka and Kurumu... now what to do, lie and make comments about their skill in bed, thus gaining a reputation amongst the male populous possibly pissing the girls off, or tell the truth with a few edits, and stay on the girls good side, maybe earning a reputation as some sort of peer mediator...

"you guys realize I just stopped them from killing each other right?" good old fashioned honesty. Saving lives since forever.

"dude, you realize you blocked attacks from an A ranked, and an S ranked monster who were in an honor battle over YOU?" said a guy with a few patches of scales showing.

I shrugged. "I don't want my friends killing each other. Besides, not every problem needs to end with violence." I say as I get in the shower.

"that's not what he means idiot." was that Saizo?

"you BLOCKED anger fueled attacks from the two highest ranks of monster in the world." hmm this gives me an idea.

"please, I've repelled stronger attacks. Their nothing compared to shadows."

the room went extremely quiet. So they've heard of shadows then, interesting.

"you're full of shit. Shadows are nothing more than legends told to keep witches from delving too deep into their mental worlds." sneered Saizo, Seems like he doesn't believe himself.

" sorry, but that's false. They are real. Shadows are creatures born of psychological remnants of the mind. Every negative emotion we feel is given life in these shadows. They live in worlds and times separate of the ones we live in, and are as eternal as life itself." I say washing myself.

The other worlds thing was a theory I was contemplating back in SEES, I had no evidence other than the fact that Mitsuru had said the Kirijo and Nanjo groups were studying shadows before the dark hour happened, but to me it made sense. It seems that I made them think, because they all had slightly worried and contemplative faces on when I left the bathroom. Even Saizo.

A month or so later, as I made my way to class, I felt a familiar feeling. Almost like there was some force telling me that I should have a persona with resistance to blunt attacks equipped. I listened to it and kept going. It was always right. As I entered class I saw the room empty. What? Then I looked at the board, oh yeah, class is canceled, exam results are posted. Feeling stupid I make my way to the courtyard to see the scores. I'm greeted by Moka and Kurumu. Luckily for me, they both have realized that I'm not going to date them. But they're happy to have me for a friend, just as I am happy to be theirs. I've reached level three social link with Moka, and two with Kurumu. I've also formed the fool social link. It appears to be my friendship with the girls.

When I look on the board, I expect to have average grades, but Moka pulls me to the top of the board. Now back in Gekkoukan, this is where I expected to be, but, I thought my knowledge here was mediocre at best. Looks like the all day Sunday cram sessions I set up near the beginning of the year worked, because I had the highest grade in the year. I play off my surprise to try and earn some positive rep. It seems to have the opposite affect. The whispers are pretty stinging... not.

It's as I discretely scan the crowd that I notice a young girl, about Maiko's age five years ago, being hounded by a group of thugs.

I see red.

Ever since Fuuka, I've been very harsh to bullies, and the fact the girl reminds me of one of my youngest friends makes me fume.

As I approach the group I hear some of the conversation. "well Yukari(!) looks like you're not the smartest kid in the school anymore. Makes you seem less important doesn't it? Not only are you a witch brat, but you aren't even the smartest here anymore." says the kid in front.

Witch huh? Poor kid, they aren't very much liked here, because of their closeness to humanity. "and your outfit isn't dress code either, we should tear it off right now and throw you into the crowd to die of humiliation."said the fat one to his left.

Now my vision was literally red, and my heartbeat was the rhythm of a war drum.

God, I hadn't been this pissed since Ikutski! The girl put on a pretty good brave face but the nervousness was still visible to my superb person reading skills.

"you three are nothing but a bunch of bullies, I'm still smarter than the three of you put together. Besides, my costume is counted as my true form by school rules."

shit, wrong thing to say. You're not supposed to show your true form. "ha, you're not supposed to show your true form, now, as class rep I get to formally punish you."

CLASS REP!?

Who the fuck chose this scumbag as class rep?!

I'm about to rip him a new one when Yukari(still surprises me) waved her wand behind her back, and a rock hits the 'class rep' in the head. "ha ha, serves you right."she says.

as the bully goes to punch her I grab his punch in my hand, and Moka appears behind me to block it at the same time.

She sees my rage, and knows it's source, so she backs off.

"you know..." I say squeezing his hand, god he's weaker than a cowardly Maya! "there is very little that pisses me off."

I reach into my pocket and grab my best sword again. "traitors, murderers, and oh yeah."

I draw my sword slowly to intimidate him and show his friends I mean business. "Bullies, people who abuse their positions, and threaten LITTLE GIRLS, of all people, with, being stripped and publicly humiliated." my stony eyes pierce him, and I cast evil smile.

He's shaking now. "I think you owe someone an apology." I say gesturing behind me.

I release him and he scrambles to Yukari and grovels at her feet. She kicks him and tells him to get lost. I say "you heard the lady, skedaddle." they ran faster than any shadow I've ever seen.

I turn to Yukari and give a smile. "well, that was a nice move with the rock, but it may have been better to aim a little bit higher next time, you would hit the soft spot of the skull and knocked them out." she frowned at me, and went behind Moka. Was it something I said?

Later, we were at the cafeteria with Yukari, she was nearly fused to her side. She was just now giving her introductions. Yukari Sendo, Witch, class 3, our grade, skipped years, madly in love with Moka and wants to be her girlfriend, purple eye- Hold on. What?

"hold on. What?" I ask dumbly.

"you heard her, she's madly in love with Moka." said Kurumu quietly giggling.

"oh, I thought so. Moka?" I asked looking at her. "you okay with that?" she didn't seem to know what to say to that.

I opened my mouth to say that it didn't matter to me but Yukari interrupted. "of course it is! And she doesn't need permission from you on who to date Arisato Minato!"

I open my mouth to agree with her and try to continue my earlier statement, but she continues. "grades better than mine.(she pouts slightly) Skill with weapons, excellent, athletic ability, amazing, but no one knows what you are, and you won't tell anyone. You are an unknown variable, and are therefore dangerous to my precious Moka." I try to correct her but she continues.

"so to protect her, you are no longer allowed near her." I figured she wouldn't let me talk so I stayed quiet.

"be gone!" she cried.

Suddenly brooms and washbasins flew out of the closet and started hitting me. That explains the feeling earlier.(thank you omniscient orb) I don't even flinch as I just stare at her. I admit, I'm a little peeved. I save her from bullies, and was even about to suggest Moka try dating her just to try it out, and what does she do? She insults me and attacks me.

Though, it's probably a self defense mechanism. She isn't well liked because of her species, and she is still a child, so it's excusable.

...

This however is not. The groping is fine, IN PRIVATE, The blatant homosexuality is fine, IN PRIVATE, and the sounds they are making is also fine, IN PRIVATE!

But doing all of this all day in public, though fine because of freedom to love who you want, is not excusable, because Moka is obviously uncomfortable.

"alright, enough is enough." I say finally.

Yukari goes into her endless speech mode again. "you have no right to speak to her. Our love is special, and you cannot stop it."she starts magicking sharp objects at me. Shit! She cut me! "now I need to go to the nurse's office." I lie. Hopefully it gives Moka time to straiten out her witch issues. I hope.

"you know you seem to be taking this well, I would have thought you would have said something to her already." said Kurumu in the nurses office.

"i keep trying to tell her I'm on her side in this but she keeps interrupting me." I reply as I heal myself.

"really!" she says.

I nod. "I don't mind that she likes Moka. I just think she should remember to take Moka's feelings into account with all this."

Kurumu nodded sagely."you saw it too, she was obviously embarrassed by the public display. I'm surprised Yukari didn't notice."

I look out the window. "it's possible she did but doesn't care. Remember, no matter how intelligent she may be, she's just a kid. Kids can be like that without realizing. She's nothing like Ken." I say.

"that's good though. Remember why Ken was so mature." she replies. I nod gravely.

Suddenly my body starts trying to move on it's own. Only the power of my will keeps my body under my control. "Kurumu, someone's trying to control me, can I have the narcie flower back?" she seems surprised, but hands it to me. She had taken to wearing it to suppress her natural charm output, she wanted to find her real destined one the right way.

Gaining full power of my body back I sneak over to the window and lean out to look at Yukari. "you know, if you let me talk to you already you might learn something." she yelped and ran away.

I sigh, and Moka comes in. "you know, you could have told her you were uncomfortable." I say.

She sighs "i know, but, she must be suffering so much because of her heritage. I don't want to hurt her."

I nod, "lets go find her. She needs to hear what I've been trying to say so long."

as we wander looking for her we hear her yelp in pain and we run to help. When we get there, I see red again.

The 'class rep' and his cronies have Yukari cornered, her wand broken. I rip off Moka's rosary and sprint in front of Yukari. I tackle her out of the way taking a claw to the back.

When she saw me she started asking me why I saved her. "because, you are dating Moka. Even though you've embarrassed her, she still cares. And for the record, the first words you interrupted were me telling her she should date you. Even if it didn't go anywhere."

"but, I thought you wanted her?" she asked.

"what? Is that why you were so hostile to me? I don't want her. She's my friend, that's all she'll ever be. Kurumu too. And if you want, you can be my friend too." I smiled at her and turned to the three stooges, being herded together by Ura and Kurumu.

"i thought you got the hint yesterday. But I was wrong. Now you will see what happens to those who hurt my friends." I drew my sword and evoker.

I readied the persona I felt would have the greatest affect. I placed the evoker to my temple and with his power I whispered ominously, "ascend from the pits of tartarus... Thanatos!" I let him ham it up, as he made the already thick fog thicker. And rose from an illusory hole he opened in the ground. He looked at the three lizardmen royally shitting themselves. I look to Yukari and smile as she looks between me and Thanatos with awe and fear.

I say, "don't worry, you're safe. But they aren't." I turn to them and say, "Die for me." I whisper. Thanatos casts the spell and the three pass out.

he vanishes as I turn to Yukari. "see, your my friend. Now let's go get you cleaned up shall we?" she starts crying and we all (even Ura) come in to give her a hug.

The next day starts off with a bang. "I love you Minato!"

…

"Yukari, I think we should have a special conversation. Alright? It's important." I say as the girls start sharing saddened glances.

"I'll follow you anywhere, Mina-kun." she says happily. I lead her back to my room with the girls following.

Upon reaching the room, I state the predicament. "Yukari, I won't date you."

she looked sad as she smiled. "I know." well color me surprised. "but even so, you've proved yourself to be everything I ever wanted to be. I want to be just like you. I want you to train me."

I suddenly realize. She must think me a warlock, a combat based warrior wizard.

I smile sadly. "Yukari, I cant teach you." she looks like I shattered her heart.

She starts tearing up. "b-b-b-but why?"

I turn away from her. "because I'm a human." I didn't look back but from the faces the girls were making it seems she was reacting bad. "I have a special power, the power you saw me use against those three punks. It's called persona. And I earned it. But it wasn't easy." now I turned to her. "do you want to know what I went through? Do you still want to be my friend? Or do you want to leave?" I asked.

She looked me in the eyes.

She must have seen something because she nodded after a while. "I want to know how you became capable of this magic. Because... you are my first friend." I nodded smiling.

"do you know any mind magic?" I ask. "no but I have a pensive. It's a magic bowl that allows one to relive their memories." I tell her to get it.

A while later while Yukari is still away Ryoji returns. 'another one? You sure are showing your life to a lot of people, aren't you.' I know, but I guess it's just because of the fact that I can finally tell someone, coupled with the fact that I need their absolute trust if they are going to help me stay alive here. 'but you overpower everyone you fight with ease.' sure I do now, but you and I both know I am going to be dealing with stronger enemies soon. Remember, Murphy hates me. 'that's true.' and, lets not forget, this isn't the dark hour, my overall power is at like an eighth of what it was on that last night. I wouldn't last five minutes against anything above yabbashah like this. 'you're right. You should start training again. Maybe you'll become powerful enough to only use half of your soul to seal mom, if you do that you may end up among the gods.' I mentally scoff. You know as much as I do, that will never happen. In the end I'm going to die, just like I was always destined to. 'sorry, just trying to make you feel better. It's a scary thought.' I know. But you are right. It's time I start training again. I felt him smile at me in my mind as Yukari entered the room and he left.

"alright, we just lean over it and you take control, remember everything you want me to see." I smile and lean in.

soon we are at the dorm again. "huh? that's weird, where are we?" she asked.

"his mind-scape" Came Aigis' voice as she walked down the stairs.

Yukari jumped and gasped. "mind-scape! Many of the most powerful monsters don't even have one, how do you have one?"

I smile. "persona is special. As far as I can guess a mind-scape born when someone truly understands themselves. Persona, is the essence of who we are. We always know who we truly are." I say as I retrieve the keys to my childhood.

Soon, we reach the first full moon. My friends, go to the roof door and unlock it for us. As we walk through the door, we are in my dorm room, Takeba(just to prevent mental confusion) knocking on my door and coming in.

"this was when I first realized something was wrong" I say as Takeba gave me a short sword. We saw us running up the stairs and seeing the first shadow.

"what in the nine hells is that!?" yells Yukari.

I let her name sharer explain. 'those monsters, we call them shadows.' she held the 'gun' to her forehead, Yukari(who was in too much of a daze yesterday to see me do the same) gasped.

As Yukari tried to use her power, she fails and gets knocked to the side.

"at this moment, I experienced the greatest fear in my life till that point." I say as my past self stares emotionlessly ahead. The world pulses as we see pharos telling me what to do.

I pull the evoker too my forehead. All we can hear is my heartbeat and breathing.

Past me smirks.

"per-"

"-so-"

"-na"

I pulled the trigger and the first summon's light shone behind me.

Yukari was blown away by the magnificence, and Orpheus's proclamation. "the great Greek musician, Orpheus! He traveled alongside Jason, as an Argonaut, and after the voyage ended, he suffered the loss of his beloved wife Eurydice. He then traveled to the underworld to retrieve her, upon charming both hades and persephone with his legendary musical skills, they allowed the return of Eurydice, on the condition he not turn to look at her till they reached the surface again. However, upon seeing the light, he forgot the rule and hermes came and dragged her back to tartarus. In his greif, he played an endless melody of pain, which drove the nymphs who listened to madness, and to destroy all but his head."

We all stared at her.

"you're right..." I say, surprised.

"of course I am. I've studied well over twenty of the most prominent mythologies and religions from across the planet. After all, many of them have magical reasoning and use in various magical arts. For instance, the Romans were highly proficient in soul magics, capable of advanced homunculi manufacturing, and even invented the first love potions."

we were all very impressed at her knowledge and I kinda hope the Romans have some sort of spell that could save me, but I don't have many hopes for that.

After seeing Thanatos come out of Orpheus and destroy the shadow, and I killed the smaller ones, we followed my past self to the velvet room. I was surprised yet at the same time unsurprised by the fact Yukari didn't know who Igor was. Oh well.

When it came to the explanations Yukari looked like she had a headache. "don't think about it too much. Everything will become obvious in time."

seeing the priestess fight made Yukari flinch at Junpei's stupid bravado. Can't say I blame her.

When we saw the emperor and empress battle she realized just what level of enemy I was combating. "wait, shadows..." here it comes. "SWEET MERLIN ON A CLEANSWEEP! These are THE shadows!" Yukari exclaims in sudden realization. I nod.

"Shadows, legendary creatures born of the negative psychological residue of the living. The true border between man and monster. Beings who are swayed by gods and demons, who's power combined is more than capable of changing the very fabric of the universe." said Yukari whose face began to pale exponentially till she made Koromaru's coat look black.

She knows more than me in that regard. Hmm, I should ask her more about that later. "yep, the same. Even now I could probably wipe the floor with those two. I got much stronger between then and now."

she looked at me like a living god.

She needs to stop that...

now.

"keep watching. There's more to see if you want to know my story." I said. She turned back to the battle before her I worried about how she would respond to the end of that chapter of my life.

Later after leaving the pensive Yukari was in tears, holding on to me tightly. The girls had to pry her off and bring her back to the dorms. 'you sure seem to be dealing with your past better now. You might be able to deal with … you know, soon' not yet. I know it would help but … I just cant yet. I'm not strong enough.

As I go to bed I swear I could hear Aigis's voice.


End file.
